In that spirit, and in partnership with Westpac, our Young Leaders Awards celebrate young people whose leadership stands out in their schools and communities. Each year, we offer 1 award to a year 5 – 8 student in every NZ Primary and Intermediate school.

Sir Peter showed all of us there are leaders and there are dreamers. Leaders make things happen. Dreamers have a vision. The truly special people do both. The first step to making these dreams happen is to believe in yourself, and to believe you can do it. We believe our Young Leaders can do it. And this year during Leadership Week, students are challenged to #believeyoucan.

How to get involved?

If you’re a Primary or Intermediate school in NZ then you’re eligible to participate. We’ll make 1 award per school, to a year 5 – 8 student who you identify as being a fantastic leader. In March, we’ll launch the nominations for Young Leader Awards 2016 right here on our website and on social media. We’ll also email all eligible schools across NZ inviting participation in the programme.

Who can get this award?

Your school can design a process for choosing your Young Leader. Staff could identify an amazing young leader, or students might like to choose one of their peers.

To help you, here are some of our ideas about the kind of student you’ll choose. We think great leaders:

Have their own style of leadership - it could be a quiet or a big, bold approach

Work well with their peers, not just alone

Communicate well, and can relate to both students and teachers

May be doing good things in their school, home and community

Aren’t afraid of a hard task, and get stuck in

Are thoughtful and kind

Take on extra duties, and do them well

Do things with a great attitude

Know how to have fun

What next?

Once we receive your student's details, we’ll put you in touch with a local Westpac branch manager. Then together, you can make arrangements to present the award at a school assembly during Leadership Week (3 – 7 July 2017).